title: Cerebral blood flow quantification in swine using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop quantitative cerebral blood flow (CBF) imaging using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL) in swine, accounting for their cerebrovascular anatomy and physiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five domestic pigs (2.5-3 months, 25 kg) were used in these studies. The orientation of the labeled arteries, T1bl , M0bl , and T1gm were measured in swine. Labeling parameters were tuned with respect to blood velocity to optimize labeling efficiency based on the data collected from three subjects. Finally, CBF and arterial transit time (ATT) maps for two subjects were created from PCASL data to determine global averages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average labeling efficiency over measured velocities of 5-18 cm/s was 0.930. The average T1bl was 1546 ms, the average T1gm was 1224 ms, and the average blood-to-white matter ratio of M0 was 1.25, which was used to find M0bl . The global averages over the subjects were 54.05 mL/100 g tissue/min CBF and 1261 ms ATT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the feasibility of PCASL for CBF quantification in swine. Quantification of CBF using PCASL in swine can be further developed as an accessible and cost-effective model of human cerebral perfusion for investigating injuries that affect blood flow.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Megan E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Zhenlin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Maldjian
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Whitlow
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Morykwas
authors.forename: Youngkyoo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jung
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013113:Spin Labels; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D013113:Spin Labels
keywords: animal model; arterial transit time; cerebral blood flow; perfusion; pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling